cursive is and probably always was totally unnecessary.

Cursive is obsolete. The ONLY cursive a person has to perform is to sign his or her name...something that can be taught in the first grade in a few class periods. Proponents of cursive make the exaggerated claim that everyone should have to learn cursive because they will have to decipher a historical document written in cursive some day. Nonsense. Few people will ever be faced with that eventuality and as time goes by, fewer and fewer will. I have not seen an important document written in cursive since the sixties. Those that will need such an obsolete skill such as historians, researchers, etc., can generally decipher a document written in cursive despite not ever learning to write it...it is not rocket science. Cursive letters are not all that hard to recognize from printed characters. If proponents of teaching cursive were honest, they would likely admit that their interest in cursive is more likely a manifestation of nostalgia rather than enabling any real practical function.

I think it's great. These young whippersnappers think they're so much better than us seniors because they can use high frequencies we can't hear to pass secret messages to others of their age group, so I think it's only fair that we have our own secret code they can't understand.

Okay, tongue removed from cheek. I think they will suffer in ways they haven't realized. What happens when the need arises to check into older records that were hand written? What good is an original 1880 census record when you can't understand cursive? And the fact that most have been transcribed to print is of little use when the person who made the transcription made a copyist's error. (I've seen some rather notable ones).

Old deeds, legal papers, historical documents, and more were all written in cursive, and sooner or later I imagine most people run across the need to know how to read cursive. And here we are bringing up a generation that barely knows how to sign their own names, if that much.

Teaching children the alphabet, phonics, and the basics of printing letters, forming words, then sentences, then paragraphs correctly takes years, and now standardized testing is done on computers so we’ve got to teach them to type as well (along with all that pesky curriculum so that they can actually pass the tests!)... time is so valuable in school, in order to fit it all in along with art, music, STEM, etc., some things have got to go!

What do mean "kids"? I am 80 and I only sign my name in cursive. Everything else is printing.

My 9-year-old great-nephew is learning cursive in school. It's not dead yet.

My kids are being taught it still.

I'v heard this and even said it, but changed my mind. I can't think of any valid reason that they should. If all the computers go down and we all go back to writing they can just print.

Even though they do not do this in school. I am teaching my daughter. You can print out practice sheets, I found online. My boy has not shown interest yet he always wants to do what I do, he will catch up one of these days.

These are the same mental giants that came up with common core.

I think it's becoming more obsolete because most of the writing in schools and in general is done on a computer. I learned it in elementary school, but by the time I reached middle school the teachers would say to write in a way they could read it. Now the only classmates in college who use it have really nice handwriting or are writing extremely fast for notes. Most of our writing assignments are done online now, teachers won't even take any writing assignments that aren't turned in online.
The only use for it now, in my opinion, would reading be historical documents. I think reading and writing cursive could be taught either in high school or college when it's needed. Trying to squeeze it into classes in elementary or middle school just adds more strain with little benefit.

My take: as long as students have to take long blue book essay exams, they should at least have the option of learning cursive. Printing that many pages would be an excruciating process!

Culturally dissapointing. And I wish I could spark it in my kids to want to learn it.

When I sign one of the electronic pads, my signature looks nothing like the signature I use for legal documents or checks, it is just scribble. Yet they take it, never look at my driver's license to verify my signature. It reminds me of a time when "make your mark" was sufficient. Children learn the QWERTY system of typing very young and then submit their papers (homework) online. I'm not sure if there is room for them to learn cursive. Things have changed.

If you can't read cursive, a lot of history is lost to you. So many source documents of great importance are written in longhand. So, instead of being able to research things for yourself, you have to take someone else's word for how things were and how they came to be. (Assuming anyone who is not an academic would actually take the time to look for the truth instead of having an interpretation of events fed to them.)

It’s transition time, apparently. Though I learned to ‘type’ (keyboard) my senior year of HS, I was the only guy in the room! Having recently worked within several middle schools, it became apparent ‘keyboarding’ is critical … far more so than cursive writing ..that I use only on the rare check. And since a signature can amount to anything -- thinking about it - cursive writing is no doubt the least used yet time-consuming ‘skill’ I’d learned. Good riddance

I think that cursive can go away. I use it and like it just fine because it is quicker for me than printing, but the reality is that it isn't being used. Nearly all documents are done on computers and it is, essentially, obsolete. Often we just get so used to an idea that we feel it should be clung to. Like religions... There are so many more important things to teach than cursive. Specifically all things financial from saving, loans, mortgages, etc...

I don't think it is at all important. I never write cursive, never have. I was taught it in school but hated it so just printed. I have a very successful career and a graduate degree. It hasn't impacted me in the slightest.

What I do regret is not taking typing.

The most beautiful cursive writing I ever seen was of my uncle that spent half his life in prison due three murders in self defense. He always said "I got bad luck and good aim. I had shot a gun 4 times in my life... 3 hit the target." He did lived in a time of... once you got a reputation of shooting someone. Arguments escalated quickly to the next level and since the first at age 18 disposing of a bully he never got rid of that reputation. He didn't moved out either to a place where nobody knew him so... but damn his letters were beautiful... I know the joke... "he had a lot of practice and a very loose wrist". I heard the joke from him everytime he got complimented.

I have had a hard time letting go of the teaching of Latin in high school. Cursive will be an easy one to accept.
To me, the idea of cursive is the teaching of small motor skills. That looks to be taken care of with the touch screens?

It will make it harder for them to research anything old such as diaries, letters of correspondence, many documents, ledgers...

When a colleague defended print over cursive because it is simpler and easier to read, I told her that "simpler and easier" were two "stupidizers".... (from stupid)
I use cursive.

My kids are being taught it still.

I'm not so bothered by it not being taught any longer... There will be those who want to learn it, and will; and penmanship will carry on... I quit using proper cursive as soon as I was allowed, and now write in my own style, which is somewhere between printing, and cursive. Like my signature, it's mostly illegible.

I'm kind of ambivolent about it. I don't think I could write in cursive now if I wanted to. I haven't really done it since I was in highschool. I don't think it's a skill they need. Kids only have so much time they're in the school system before graduation. I think the time it takes to learn cursive isn't a good use of their time. I would rather have a focus on math or science. Or at the very least, typing.